Fans react to Lorde's racy new album cover with hilarious memes

Lorde shocked her fans on Tuesday by releasing the X-rated artwork for her upcoming single, Solar Power.

In the photo, the Kiwi songstress skips across the beach in a tiny G-string with the camera pointed gratuitously at her derriere from below. 

Fans reacted to the racy artwork by posting hilarious memes, many of which saw the 24-year-old airbrushed into comical scenarios.

Cheeky: Lorde shocked her fans on Tuesday by releasing the X-rated artwork for her upcoming single, Solar Power, which has no been parodied online by fans 

One meme made it look like Lorde was kicking a soccer ball, while another showed her in a baby pool.

However, not everybody liked Lorde’s new direction, with some claiming that the Royals singer had ‘sold out’ by sexing up her image.

‘I’m very excited for her comeback, but it’s sad seeing again that the music industry pressures women to commodify their bodies in order to sell,’ wrote one fan.

Hilarious: Fans reacted to the racy artwork by posting hilarious memes, many of which saw the 24-year-old airbrushed into comical scenarios

Memes: One meme made it look like Lorde was kicking a soccer ball, while another showed her in a baby pool

‘Mum’s been harping on about how “predictable” and “disgusting” the new Lorde album cover is,’ wrote another.

The news follows Lorde’s first confirmed performance in three years, a headlining slot at Spain’s Primavera Festival next year.

The Auckland-raised star, real name Ella Yellich-O’Connor, became an overnight success in 2013 with the release of her first album Pure Heroine with lead single Royals.

Shock! Fans used hilarious gifs to express their shock over Lorde’s raunchy new direction

Lorde has eschewed traditional music release patterns since then, releasing just one album in the past eight years: 2017’s Melodrama.

Both albums have been commercial and critical successes; last month Lorde and songwriter Joel Little received an industry award for reaching one billion streams of Royals.

In 2019, Lorde wrote a note to her millions of fans saying the heartbreaking death of her dog, Pearl, who ‘brought an immeasurable amount of joy and purpose into my world’, would delay her third album.

Fame: The Auckland-raised star, real name Ella Yellich-O’Connor, became an overnight success in 2013 with the release of her first album Pure Heroine with lead single Royals